🗞️ Mind your business

Good morning. Anthropic now has more recorded business customers than OpenAI.

Anthropic, the makers behind Claude, the company that seems to be taking over the world, has grown from $87 million in revenue to nearly $40 billion, in under 4 years.

For context, CBA revenue last financial year was $28 billion.

All the headlines and more below...

GRANNY FLATS ARE OUT, DUPLEXES ARE IN UNDER THE NEW TAX RULES

The budget's negative gearing changes actively reward knocking down one house and putting up two. Duplexes and townhouses qualify for tax breaks. Granny flats and like-for-like knockdown rebuilds don't.

Builder Neil McLennan says dual-occupancy work once made up 10% of his business before construction costs killed demand post-COVID. Treasury confirmed: new apartments off the plan qualify, so do duplexes replacing a single home. A new house replacing an old one does not. Neither does a granny flat.

The policy now collides with council planning rules. In areas that don't allow 1-for-2 knockdowns, investors may leave old houses unrenovated rather than rebuild. In areas that do allow it, supply could improve. Real estate agents say this pushes more capital into owner-occupier homes, potentially driving prices up for existing stock.

AUSTRALIAN NEWS

• The NDIS has reported expenses rising 11.3% over the past year as average annual plan costs reached $67,000 and participants grew to 775,556, mostly children under 15. LINK

• Australian budget tax changes have ended lucrative single-home knockdown rebuilds while encouraging investors to pursue dual-occupancy and townhouse projects that increase dwelling numbers to retain capital gains and negative gearing benefits. LINK

• Property experts say the Australian government’s backflip on housing taxes has triggered an investor exodus that is set to push Sydney and Melbourne property prices lower as auction clearance rates slide. LINK

FLAT WHITE BY THE AUSSIE CORPORATE

Pick & Scroll gives you the daily headlines. Flat White goes deeper. Every Tuesday, The Aussie Corporate breaks down the one story that actually matters if you work behind a desk, the economic data behind your cost of living, and what your employer isn't saying out loud.

Tomorrow we’ll be covering why the budget is asking you to wait until 2028, whether staying loyal to one company still pays off and the inside scoop we’re known for. Same team. Same voice.

LINKEDIN CUTS 10 AUSTRALIAN STAFF, GUTS LOCAL LEADERSHIP DESPITE 12% REVENUE GROWTH

LinkedIn cut roughly 10 roles in Australia this week as part of a global cull of around 875 jobs, about 5% of its 17,500-strong workforce. Sources say members of the local senior leadership team were among those eliminated. "Australian leadership has been gutted," one told The Age.

Chief marketing officer Jessica Jensen told staff in an internal memo that "growth is more competitive, infrastructure costs continue to rise and AI is reshaping how work gets done." The company is consolidating teams and embedding AI workflows to "allow our human creativity and judgment to go further, faster."

There’s been over 103,000 tech sector job cuts globally so far this year, already approaching the 124,000 recorded across all of 2025. Cisco, Block, WiseTech, Atlassian and Coinbase have each cited AI productivity gains as rationale for cuts. LinkedIn's parent Microsoft has cut close to 7,000 employees this year, roughly 3% of its workforce, while CEO Satya Nadella toured Australia last month announcing a $25B investment in data centres and AI.

Revenue is growing, headcount is shrinking and now the platform selling career opportunities is cutting the people who built it.

COMPANY NEWS

• Tabcorp has updated 5-year contracts with 3,700 pubs and clubs to require venues to reimburse regulatory fines within 30 days, as financial crimes watchdog audits begin. LINK

• LinkedIn has cut about 10 Australian roles, including members of its local senior leadership, as part of a 5% global workforce reduction affecting ~875 staff. LINK

• The Federal Court ruling on Coles pricing is being criticised as an unjustifiable overreach into business, as community anger ignores ACCC-detailed supply chain constraints on supermarket prices. LINK

• Auckland Airport reported a 1% rise in April international passengers despite a 1% seat capacity fall as long-haul and Middle East routes weakened sharply due to US-Iran tensions. LINK

• ABC ombudsman’s office, created in 2022 after an independent review, spent $117,782 on expenses including $73,543 on software and $37,753 on travel. LINK

• Telstra has developed a multimillion-dollar artificial intelligence strategy that automatically performs basic IT troubleshooting tasks, echoing the reboot-and-plug-in jokes from The IT Crowd. LINK

• Kmart and Target have recalled Anko Long Range Walkie Talkies nationwide after an oversight left them using the private 467.425 MHz band reserved for licensed operators. LINK

• Google has unveiled a new line of Gemini AI-focused laptops running a hybrid Android and ChromeOS, made by Dell, Lenovo, HP, ASUS and Acer, launching later this year. LINK

CHART OF THE DAY

Older workers face uneven employment outcomes

ONE MORE SCROLL

Editor’s Pick: How much water do I need to drink a day?

Draft Pick: Abbey Caldwell third in Diamond League 1,500m, becomes second-fastest Australian woman.

Odd Pick: Qantas flight diverted after man bites flight attendant.

TRIVIA

True or false:

1. There are more trees on Earth than there are stars in the Milky Way galaxy.

2. The national animal of Scotland is the unicorn.

3. Cleopatra lived closer in time to the construction of the Great Pyramid of Giza than she did to the first Moon landing.

4. A day on Venus lasts longer than a year on Venus.

5. Peanuts grow on trees, just like walnuts and pecans.

Answers below

OUR SOCIALS

ANSWERS

1. True. Experts estimate there are roughly 3 trillion trees on Earth. By comparison, the Milky Way galaxy is estimated to contain a much smaller number - somewhere between 100 billion and 400 billion stars.
2. True. The unicorn has been a Scottish heraldic symbol since the 12th century. It was originally chosen by Scottish royalty for its mythological association with purity, extreme power and fiercely independent nature.
3. False. The Great Pyramid was completed around 2560 BCE, while Cleopatra died in 30 BCE (a gap of over 2,500 years). The Apollo 11 Moon landing happened in 1969 CE, which is only about 1,999 years after her death.
4. True. Venus has an incredibly slow rotation. It takes Venus 243 Earth days to rotate just once on its own axis (a Venusian day). However, it only takes 225 Earth days for the planet to complete one full orbit around the Sun (a Venusian year).
5. False. Despite having "nut" in their name, peanuts do not grow on trees. They are actually legumes (like peas and lentils) and grow completely underground, which is why they are sometimes referred to as groundnuts.

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